Arkansas-Little Rock slams South Alabama women, 65-34

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - UALR Shot 54.9 percent from the field and held the University of South Alabama women's basketball team to a 24.4 percent shooting as the Trojans won their fourth-straight with a 65-34 victory over the Lady Jags Saturday evening at the Jack Stephens Center.

"The result is what it is and there are no excuses," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "The only thing we can do right now is regroup and move forward. I don't like (the result) anymore than anyone else does. It's my job as head coach to find ways to make it work. Clearly, it didn't work today. We've shown in the past that we have resolve and we have to find some resolve in this instance. We still have seven games remaining in the regular season and we have to finds some resolve and play at a higher level than we clearly played tonight. I've told many of my teams in the past, 'In basketball, it's never too late to figure things out."'

USA (12-10, 5-8 SBC) will now return home to open up a three-game home stint, beginning with in-state rival Troy on Wednesday. Tip-off versus the Trojans is set for 11:30 a.m. at the Mitchell Center and will be USA's "Pack the House" game.

The loss was the third-straight for South Alabama. Saturday's game also marked the second-consecutive game that a Jaguar opponent has shot over 50 percent for the game.

Brianna Wright was the lone player for USA to finish in double figures, recording 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Ronneka Robertson had eight and was 6-of-8 at the foul line. She also had six rebounds, the 16th time this season that she has had six or more rebounds in a game.

Pietri did note the play of one player in the loss during his post game radio interview.

"I think Ronneka Robertson really came to fight for us today," Pietri said. "I think if we had had more players on our team that were as ready to play as she was tonight, it would have helped."

As a team, South Alabama was just 11-for-45 from the field and 2-of-12 from the arc.

UALR (15-7, 7-6 SBC) placed two players in double figures, led by Taylor Ford's 16. Ford was 6-of-12 from the field and also had six assists and six rebounds in the win. Jakeisha Wells had 10 points - all in the second half - on 5-of-6 shooting. Taylor Gault added nine points off the bench.

"UALR is really good," Pietri said. "They went through a dark stretch where they lost six of seven, but have since won four straight and are beating people soundly. In three of those four games, they have blown out Florida Atlantic, they blew out Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night and now we are one of the victims."

The Trojans were on fire, connecting on 28 of their 51 shot attempts and as a team, finished with 23 assists.

South Alabama got off to another slow offensive start versus the Trojans and UALR capitalized, jumping out to a quick 11-2 advantage six minutes into the contest. Ford led the way during the early surge for the Trojans as she recorded seven of the club's first 11 points, including a pull up jumper at the foul line to cap of the scoring.

With USA trailing by just eight (15-7) with under 10 minutes to go, the Trojans erupted for another big run, this one a string of 11-staight points over the next six minutes. Ford began the scoring for UALR with a bucket and Gault then added a jumper and a three-pointer. After a layup from Fohne at the 6:24 mark, Ka'Niesha Cobbins gave the Trojans a 26-7 advantage with a pair of free throws with under four to play.

During the six-minute offensive drought, South Alabama was 0-for-6 and turned the ball over five times.

The Lady Jags were finally got into double figures with just over a minute to play on a trey from Veronica Cherizol at the top of the key, but with time running out, Ford found Shanity James underneath for a basket to send the Trojans into the locker room with a 33-13 halftime lead.

The 20-point deficit was the largest for South Alabama this season at the break. The 13 points were also a new season-low for the first half.

UALR was outstanding from the field during the first 20 minutes of action, finishing the period shooting 51.9 percent (14-for-27), while USA struggled, hitting just four field goal attempts for 20 percent. The four first-half field goals were new season lows for South Alabama.

Ford led all scorers in the first stanza, recording 12 of her 16 points in the frame.